Dance Company Includes People in Wheelchairs and Busts a Beautiful Move

These choreographers are on a mission to prove that anyone can dance – no matter their abilities.

The nonprofit called Infinite Flow hosts classes, dances, and inclusive programs for kids and adults alike—and touts itself as the first professional wheelchair ballroom dance company in the world.

The founder herself, Marisa Hamamoto, used to be confined to a wheelchair when a rare disease called spinal cord infarction left her paralyzed from the neck down in 2006. Two months after the diagnosis, however, she regained her mobility and was able to walk out of the hospital so she could pick up her career as a professional dancer once more.

Then, eight years later, she stumbled upon wheelchair dancing at the Abilities Expo in Los Angeles.

“When I discovered wheelchair dancing in 2014 … I couldn’t believe how underdeveloped it was,” Hamamoto told Good News Network. “Having been paralyzed from the neck down myself, I felt compelled to do something about it. I could not imagine my life without dance and it was not fair that there were millions of people who did not have access to it.”

She eventually connected with Adelfo Cerame Jr., a paraplegic bodybuilder on social media, and the two became dance partners.

“… though he was completely new at dancing, after a few practice sessions together, I not only felt like I was connecting with him like my other professional dance partners, but I did not see the chair anymore – I just saw Adelfo, not ‘Adelfo in the wheelchair’.”

“My barriers were broken, and I knew in that moment that I wanted to share this experience to the millions people around the world, and this experience led to founding Infinite Flow in March 2015,” explained Hamamoto.

Recently showcased at the National Day of Dance by the Dizzy Feet Foundation & The Music Center in California on Saturday, their children’s troupe and the professional dancers in the group blew away the crowd with a stunning performance.

Marisa believes if the world danced together, there would be no war—and her goal is to prove it.